I danced with you once upon a dream…


It’s been 61 years since ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was released on January 29, 1959. The classic fairytale follows Princess Aurora, who goes into hiding with three fairies after a wicked witch cursed her to die on her 16th birthday. Here are 10 facts about the Disney film…



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It was Disney’s last fairytale adaptation


Walt Disney made his living by turning classic folk tales into renowned princesses. However, after the release of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, the studio did not make another fairytale film for 30 years. Sadly, Disney passed away before he could see the release of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in 1989.



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They used ideas from Snow White and Cinderella


‘Sleeping Beauty’ was created with discarded ideas from the other Disney films. They originally had the idea of Maleficent’s capture of Prince Phillip and his dramatic escape from her fortress in ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Similarly, the fantasy sequence featured Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip dancing on a cloud was meant for ‘Cinderella’ but was dropped from the final cut.



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Disney hated the original storyline


The writers felt little romance was developed between Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. They decided to create an elaborate sequence where the king organises a treasure hunt but it drifted from the central plot. Instead, they agreed the princess would have a chance meeting with the prince in the forest.



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The prince was named after the Duke of Edinburgh


Walt Disney wanted the prince to have a princely name that was familiar to their audience. They named him after the British monarch Prince Phillip. It was the first time the studio had named a prince as both the princes in ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella’ were not given first names.



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They used real actors to sketch the story


Before the animation process began, Walt Disney insisted the animators sketched live actors dressed in costume to make the drawing look as real as possible. Helene Stanley was the live action reference for Princess Aurora and Ed Kemmer was used as Prince Phillip. The live-action model for Maleficent was Eleanor Audley but Jane Fowler was used for other scenes.



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Audrey Hepburn was the inspiration for Aurora


The animators first took inspiration from Audrey Hepburn when developing the princess. However, as the creation went on, the character had to be changed to fit the film’s aesthetic. Animator Ron Dias said: “Eyvind redesigned her. She became very angular, moving with more fluidity and elegance, but her design had a harder line. The edges of her dress became squarer, pointed even, and the back of her head came almost to a point rather than round and cuddly like the other Disney girls. It had to be done to complement the background.”



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Disney wanted the fairies to be similar


The filmmaker asked for the three fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, to be alike in personality but the animators felt it would be better to play to their differences. Frank Thomas explained: “So we started figuring the other way and worked on how we could develop them into special personalities.”



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Eleanor Audley originally turned down a role


The actress took on the role of the villain Maleficent in the fairytale after already voicing Lady Tremane in ‘Cinderella’. However, she originally rejected the offer as she was battling tuberculosis at the time. She later reconsidered and Maleficent was nominated as Greatest Villain at the American Film Institute.



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It was the most expensive Disney film at the time


The production costs of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ totalled $6 million, making it the most expensive Disney film of the time. It was over twice as expensive as each of the preceding Disney animated features ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Peter Pan’, and ‘Lady and the Tramp’.



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It was a financial flop


The high production costs of the film resulted in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ being Disney’s first annual loss in a decade. It received poor reviews and underperformed at the box office, resulting in the studio laying off a number of employees in the animation department. However, since its release the film has improved over time with the help of re-releases.



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